The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) foreign exchange (FX) swaps amounted to $13.5 billion last year, 483.5 percent or $11.23 billion more compared to only $2.32 billion in 2008.

The BSP was accumulating dollars as buffer fund, to pay for short-term and gold-backed loans and to polish FX volatility. For the month of December alone, the central bank released $1 billion in the market to ease pressures on the peso.

Of the $13.5 billion, about $6 billion are maturing this month, while $4.5 billion will mature by March and the rest have one year maturity.

FX swaps are not included in the official BSP dollar stock. At the end of 2009, gross international reserves (GIR) totaled $44.24 billion from $37.5 billion in 2008. With forward positions the country’s dollar stock actually amounts to $57.74 billion.

Foreign currency reserves as of the end of December increased to $37 billion from $32.5 billion in 2008 while gold reserves totaled $5.45 billion from $4.35 billion in the previous year.

Special drawing rights (SDRs) from the International Monetary Fund, which increased to $1.14 billion from $10.65 million also contributed to the stronger GIR.